Requilibrium - A Day in The Life of a Preacher Man

A Day in The Life of a Preacher Man

http://lewistoumazou.wix.com/requilibrium

And so we finally come to the final part of the Requilibrium project. This was undoubtedly the most challenging exercise as it had to be performed convincingly, but crucially I was relying on the public to respond to 'The Messiah' preaching about Requilibrium; hence there was an element of chance which played an important role. It had never been my intention to try and stimulate a certain response from the public that I wanted to display, let me clarify by saying that I did not fully know what the public response would be and allowed individuals to speak for themselves with their own opinion. If I did just force the public to have the response I wanted then this project would have been a complete failure as I wouldn't have learned anything about social judgment of different belief systems.

Yes I know I was forming a specific image for my religion and obviously wanted to cause an element of controversy over it, this being that I highlighted Requilibrium to be a flawed belief system and taking a direct approach to the delicate subject of preaching in Britain. Nevertheless, I did not try to make the public love or hate Requilibrium and 'The Messiah', I performed as 'The Messiah' and I stayed in role. I did not follow the largest response to gain a wider audience, as this would not have been a natural response with reliable or valid information. 

Throughout the description of public responses I am about to go through I will not go into too much detail about my personal opinion of what they mean, I will write a conclusion to summarize my understanding of the concepts explored. I would like readers to have their own opinion of what the public responses may mean and share any thoughts about the concepts of individual beliefs and their relationship to society and religion, British judgments of different belief systems being openly shared and preached about and the acceptance of different religious beliefs.

The responses were varied and all had their own significance. I was located in Bournemouth Town Centre dressed and in role as 'The Messiah' with my business cards in hand, which had the website address and name Requilibrium on them to help further inform the public and record their responses. Many people were quite stunned initially by my appearance, this led to some members of the public avoiding me and others approaching me asking who I was and what I was doing. I would inform these people that I was spreading the word about Requilibrium and that I was 'The Messiah' who had created the belief system. Everyone saw this as absurd and bizarre. Some people walked away with the card, others rejected to take it and some just stayed to find out more about Requilibrium.

There were many interesting responses which I will use as case studies to give you a clearer idea of what some people thought about Requilibrium and the fact that I was preaching.
The young man pictured above pointing at 'The Messiah' was working at the time to promote LoveFilm. He came up to me and kindly asked me what I was doing. Once I told him about Requilibrium he gave me a a very strange look and began to act quite sarcastic. After I was finished preaching and was wearing normal clothes I decided to approach him and inform him that it was actually an art project and who I really was. He seemed stunned and told me that he fully believed that I was genuinely, as he put it - "some nutter preaching about his religion". To me it seemed that everyone thought I was a strange preacher who was trying to gather a congregation of followers, which is obviously good in terms of the validity of the project. But it showed that even when people hardly knew anything about Requilibrium, and were just aware of the fact that I was a preacher, this was enough to make people either think I was strange, dislike me and want to avoid me. I therefore felt like I had been outcast from society and was labelled with this image of being a 'freak' who you should avoid.

http://youtu.be/XYyjIz3Nf1Q

Once I had given this man my card he turned around to ask me what I was promoting. He had quite an in depth discussion about my beliefs and the fact that I was preaching within Bournemouth. He seemed very curious because he asked a lot of questions about Requilibrium and was actually very sincere about my quest to spread my beliefs. He encouraged me to carry on doing what I was doing and said it takes a lot of courage to stand up in public and share your beliefs; whatever they may be. It was interesting that someone could be so kind about something they had a very basic knowledge of, perhaps he himself was on a quest to spread his own beliefs or something he felt strongly about. This forced me to question whether people can just hold a personal opinion about a subject such as preaching about religious beliefs, which is separated from the influence of mainstream social opinion.

http://youtu.be/52LVcO55I4s

This was perhaps one of the most interesting responses received during the public performance. The man in this video was an Orthodox Christian preacher. It was quite a bizarre experience debating my religious beliefs with him. Unfortunately you can't hear the actual conversation, but he begun by getting a clear sense of what my religion was about. Once I had informed him of all of my beliefs he openly told me why my beliefs were wrong and his were right. It was actually quite easy to stay in character, because as ironic as it might sound, before this project began and during the performance, I have always despised people who preach their beliefs to others. Therefore when he was telling me why I was wrong, because I had gotten so absorbed by the character of 'The Messiah' I was very angered by this mans attack upon my own religion and began to get quite defensive' forgetting that I was doing the exact same thing as he was.

Looking back at the video I realize how strikingly similar we both were; both blinded by our own arrogance and weren't realizing that the debate wasn't leading anywhere. He told me he was right because the bible was solid evidence god exists and that Christianity is the correct religion to follow. I countered his argument with the fact that I was right because I knew that I was absolutely correct and that Requilibrium was the religion/cult that needs to be followed. This was essentially his own argument, whilst he may have been a follower of a religion and I was the creator of mine, when I asked him why; if God existed, God was right, he said because he simply was because of existing as a higher spiritual-being. The debate went on for several minutes and we continued to carry on picking flaws at each others beliefs. At the end of it he told me has was in fact happy to see another man being brave enough to speak out about his beliefs, but that it was a shame that I was preaching about the wrong religion. We exchanged cards and wished each other the best of luck.

http://youtu.be/ICCr_SRoKZE

This response from one man was probably the most extreme. Once I had handed him my card he continued walking for a short while whilst asking me what I was promoting, telling him it was Requilibrium "the religion that'll change your life", he turned to me and responded "fuck that mate, do you want a smack in the gob?" and threw the business card back in my face. He obviously did not approve of people preaching about their religious beliefs and felt quite strongly about this.

After he had left I moved to a different area of Bournemouth Town Centre. He saw me again and threatened me to leave because he had a problem with what I was doing. At this point I realized he was clearly agitated and I didn't want a fight to break out, so I told him that Requilibrium was all part of an art project. Once I explained to him what I was actually doing he laughed, patted me on the back and said he was sorry for threatening me. 

 

I realize that ultimately the responses don't tell you everything about the way Britain perceives religious beliefs, the right to preach about them and issues surrounding this, however that's not what I set out to do. I don't want to find an answer as to how we should all be able to accept people's different religious beliefs and live peacefully within a multi-faith society because quite frankly I don't think there is a clear answer. More importantly I don't ever see this happening in the future. But one thing I do know from completing this project, is that we must at least be more accepting of each others different beliefs and try to understand them on a better level so that we don't jump to conclusions through social stereotypes of different beliefs. We are all entitled to our opinions within a democracy, but we should not condemn certain beliefs because we are angered by them and disagree with them. We have to understand that, whether your beliefs are deemed moderate or extreme, we all feel passionate about our beliefs and will defend them. Hence why essentially we are all as arrogant as each other. But it is by realizing this that we are should be able to place all beliefs on an equal level.

The project does however focus on some extremely complex issues and my last statement can in fact appear quite contradicting to the point I was trying to make. How can I say that we should be accepting of each others beliefs and yet believe that it is right to do this because I feel that it is right? I guess that what ever we choose to believe in it is going to inevitably be flawed. So does this mean we should stop believing in everything and let society come to a stand still, ruled by chaos and eventually deteriorate? Quite honestly, I don't know. But in my opinion it is the job of the artist not to provide the answer, but to ask the questions.

  http://requilibrium.tumblr.com/

http://lewistoumazou.wix.com/requilibrium

Requilibrium - Creation of 'The Messiah'

Requilibrium - Creation of 'The Messiah'

http://lewistoumazou.wix.com/requilibrium

After clarifying and publishing my religious manifesto I needed to begin working on the visual and performance elements of Requilibrium. Through the influence of my research into religious and cult leaders, I wanted to focus on building a character who was the leader of Requilibrium. Through simply creating a leader, whom I openly stated obtained a superior status to any other member of Requilibrium, I formed a contradiction which completely demolished the principle of equality. I wasn't just aiming to inform the viewer that there are contradictions and flaws within any moral belief system, I was trying to get the viewer to question the striking similarities among all belief religions and cults. By exaggerating these contradictions I aimed at targeting the strictest of religious followers, who to some might be deemed as purely arrogant, and making it clear that despite what our beliefs may be we must be accepting of all beliefs. 

My inspiration for the character of 'The Messiah' came from a combination of influences. I aimed at creating a character who obtained a quiet wisdom about himself, yet had a charming intellectual charisma. Contrasting to this would be a layer of satire towards 'The Messiah', whilst obtaining quite attractive qualities in a leader he is ultimately flawed by his own blind arrogance in the belief that he is universally correct in everything he says. Therefore when performing as the Messiah I tried to emulate these characteristics, however I realised that a lot of judgement and perception of 'The Messiah' would be initially based on his appearance.

I set to work creating an an appearance which highlighted the characteristics of status of 'The Messiah', whilst creating obvious satirical undertones. The result of which was a combination of the clothes of a prophet, catholic priest and notorious political leaders such as Hitler. Instead of a classical robe I used a dressing gown, this still carried a noticeable air of wisdom and authority; however, the informal use of a dressing gown mocked 'The Messiah's' and challenged his wisdom. The rest of his outfit remained formal in order to create a sense of unquestionable authority. The reason I integrated sunglasses into his appearance was to radiate a feeling of mystery behind the character, but it also seemed to help tie together an absurd character who's appearance would make most initially laugh. I made 'The Messiah' bare footed in order to present him as a leader of men who stuck to his principle of equality, a conscious decision to lower his status to those of his followers. Yet this simply contrasted with the rest of his outfit which illustrated his own importance and significance, connoting a sense of hypocrisy.

The reason the creation of a defined and distinct figure within Requilibrium was so crucial was because I wanted to take my religion to the public, not simply by the use of social media but also through a physical public performance. Therefore by acting as the lead figure of my religion/cult I was able to create a scenario which allowed me to openly explore the issue of absolute belief within your own religion or morality. I created a character the general public could respond to without the influence of knowing he was the creation of an art project. Therefore their responses contained more validity in terms of what I could gather from the meaning behind them and what this can tell us about perceptions of religious beliefs.

 

 

Requilibrium

Requilibrium - Development of Project

I understood that all belief systems have a complex structure with a variety of elements which help to aid a better understanding of the religion/cult. My first concern was to therefore clarify precisely what my beliefs were in a religious manifesto, this would also contain rituals and teachings of my religion.

The task of creating my own religious manifesto was far more difficult than I thought. It took me a while to fully understand my own beliefs as I have always been an agnostic and never strictly followed the teachings of one separate belief system. I grounded my beliefs on 'A Theory of Justice' by political philosopher John Rawls, the idea that equality and justice are key principles to making society and the world a better place. Simplifying his theory, he believed that equality could be used as a means to achieving justice. Although I agree with the majority Rawls theory of justice and  his other political theories, there are points he makes which I personally disagree with. I presented Equality and Justice as my two main principles. The name 'Requilibrium' was coined through research into Rawls' theory of Reflective Equilibrium, a method which followed his theory of justice, creating a balanced ethical view in individual thought processing.

Following the traits of a common cult I presented myself as the messiah of my religion/cult. This immediately contradicts the key principle of Equality if I create a sense of hierarchy within my religion/cult. I had no cosmic or supernatural powers as the messiah, I just stated I should be followed without question simply because I am the founder of Requilibrium and should be trusted loyally. I did this to get people questioning the validity of my own beliefs and the idea of placing all your belief and trust into a person without question. This absurd and rather arrogant status I had created for myself would also get people questioning their own beliefs.

In the later chapters of my religious manifesto I begin to contradict myself further with my explanation of the heirarchy, initiation test and rituals of Requilibrium. I don't want to delve into too much detail about what these are as they can be viewed on the Requilibrium website - http://lewistoumazou.wix.com/requilibrium  in more detail. I focused on making them as absurd and contradictory to my key principles as possible. They again followed the structure and stereotype of a cult. The reason I did this was to get people questioning the difference between a cult and a religion. Personally I believe cults are immediately demonized for their historical context by society, but mainly mainstream religions which feel threatened by their beliefs and rising power. I don't see any difference between a cult and a religion, they are both fundamentally based on belief systems which in their eyes try achieving good in the world and for their followers.      

   

Requilibrium

Requilibrium

http://lewistoumazou.wix.com/requilibrium

Requilibrium was a project completed two months ago looking at the idea of perceptions and judgments of ones beliefs through religions and cults. The Idea was for me to essentially create my own faith system and a religious philosophy based on my own beliefs influenced by 'A Theory of Justice' by political philosopher John Rawls. However, in this religion/cult, whilst I would preach about me own actual beliefs such as equality and justice, I would embed stereotypical cult elements and rules which explicitly contradicted the main two principles of my beliefs system. This was done in order to highlight a certain amount of ignorance and arrogance I discovered in all belief systems, ultimately realizing that all beliefs are flawed, regardless whether they are moderate or extremist.

I wanted to make sure people weren't actually aware that it was at first an art project. Therefore I created several layers to the artwork itself and how it was viewed. I firstly created a website (displayed above) which could gather responses but also inform people of what my religion/cult was about. I realized that if I wanted to gather an audience for the website I needed to promote my religion to the general public. This is when I added a performance layer to the artwork. I created business cards with the name of the website on them and began to preach about Requilibrium in Bournemouth Town Center  Admittedly I didn't receive a great response on the actual website, however the act of physically preaching stimulated varied interesting responses from the general public. The responses and the journey of the creation of Requilibrium was recorded for the intention of allowing the general public and online viewers to analyse my project for themselves.

I have drawn my own conclusions as to what these responses mean in terms of how we express our beliefs and the social restrictions and limitations to preaching your opinion and other issues explored through the project. So please take a look at the Requilibrium website in order to understand the religion/cult and the beliefs it is based on, but be aware that I do not fully believe in the teachings and rituals of my own religion/cult. I do believe in Equality and Justice as key to making the world a better place, nevertheless the ways in which I express how to achieve this is not something I actually condone. These were simply a way of forming contradictions (among other elements of Requilibrium) highlighting the arrogance of all beliefs and the fact that we must be tolerant of anyone's views and opinions, whether we disagree with them or not.  

More posts are to come, illustrating the development of the formation of Requilibrium in order to give you a better understanding of what the project was about.